Olé, Olé, Olé [closed to sakka]

[amadaman]

WHO: Ken, Gran, Kidou, Komasan
WHERE: a park in Nonah
WHEN: this weekend
WHAT: the NMS soccer team is practicing and Ken's inviting new friends
WARNINGS: Gran's bedroom eyes tbh

The Nonah Middle School soccer tweens got together a lot over the summer, sometimes because they actually had practice but other times because most of the time their mothers would rather them go to the local park to practice their sport than any other rambunctious thing they can get into. (The reputation of the Pines Twins have reached across state borders, apparently.)

The boys are all there to practice, but they also spend a lot of time fooling around. They let Koromaru steal the ball a lot, they let Komasan shoot all the goals he wants whether they make sense or not, and they may or may not aim the ball at each other's butts saying it's accuracy training or something.

With school only a couple weeks away the team has decided today is a good day to splurge, so at the end of the day there will be a big order of pizzas, too. Don't let Noodle order that no cheese left beef pizza.

Comments

[monge]

[As the world's worst soccer player, it goes without saying that Komasan enjoys it when the kids humor him and let him score a goal. Granted, he doesn't actually...realize that they're letting him, he's an all star in his own mind.

However, when he's not struggling with trying to kick a regular sized ball, Komasan can also be found kicking some of the miniature soccer balls Lan gave him with much more ease. He waits for the boys to take a break before he goes at it, his control of the ball much more along the lines of "adequate."]

zura... zura...

[See, he's not bad at soccer, humans just don't know how to make the balls the right size.]

[amadaman]

[It's really too bad that even a toddler's soccer ball is probably a size too big for Komasan, but that size and squishiness is probably better on the guy's feet. While Komasan's kicking that one around Ken comes around with a couple of Ottersticks, holding one out to Komasan while he holds another (orange) one between his own teeth.]

You want one?

[monge]

Eh?

[Apparently so caught up in his routine, Komasan acts as though he snapped out of a trance. What's that? Someone is offering him a thing?]

Colorful sticks, zura?

[Also, what's an otterstick?]

[amadaman]

Colorful popsicles. Stay cool and hydrated, Komasan.

[Take one bro]

[monge]

Monge...

[Well, that's all he needs to take one and immediately chow down.

...Only to cringe when he gets a mouth full of wrapper.]

I-It tastes like plastic, zura...

[starlinings]

Ah, Komasan-kun.

[Gran walks over, soccerball held underneath his arm.]

You're really improving! That last shot to the goal would have been tough for any goalie to try and catch.

[monge]

[Perhaps unsurprisingly, it surprises Komasan to hear that. He looks over at the goal for a second, before giving Gran a puzzled look.]

...What's a goalie, zura?

[starlinings]

[The boy walks over to the goal to demonstrate.]

It's like...the guardian of the net. One person stands here to try and make sure no balls can come in.


They protect the goal so they other players don't have to worry.

[He holds his hands up to demonstrate, not too unlike Endou.]

Every team needs one. They're very important.

[monge]

But...

[Look, Komasan's all for guadianing, but there's a difference between warding off evil spirits and balls.]

...h-how am I gonna make a score if someone's blocking the goal, zura?

[EVERYONE ALWAYS JUST...MOVED OUT OF THE WAY.]

[tacticianing]

[Somewhere behind him, Kidou's watching. He finally speaks up after watching Komasan finally tackling balls closer to his size for a while.]

Allow your knee to come through first. If you keep your leg bent and swing your foot when the knee is over the ball, your shoot should go farther.

[monge]

[There's a blank look on Komasan's face, the technical advise just flying right over his head. It actually makes him kind of dizzy trying to make sense of it all, so before he can fall over, Komasan shakes his head and offers an alternative.]

I think I'm just gonna kick the ball instead, okay, zura?

[tacticianing]

[He tried. No one can say he made no effort. Gauging by the blank look on Komasan's face, he's not going to try harder to explain his point. It seems futile already.]

Go ahead.

[monge]

[And he does! Komasan gives his tiny baby ball an equally tiny baby kick, and it rolls ahead of him. Despite it not going that far, he appears to be very proud of this accomplishment.]

Monge~! D-Did you see it? I did it, zura!

[starlinings]

[After being invited by Ken, Gran was especially excited to be able to play soccer. The news of not being able to use hissatsu was devastating, but it wasn't without hope that he could still play the soccer he knew and loved. After all, more than just techniques were swapped on the field--people's feelings were too. And he wanted to experience that more than anything.

He arrives in the outfit Ken helped pick out, hair down and back in it's 'usual' style and lacking any sort of alien soccer uniform. After all, he wanted to at least blend in with the current Nonah team more than any other. He also brought along the soccer ball Wendy gave him, bouncing it off the tops of his feet and knees to dribble it between his legs. Mostly a warm up, but he still had to get used to how...light an actual soccer ball was.

Aliea's were at least 20 lbs.]

Ah! Did you want to pass back and forth?

[If he's spotted you, he's probably hailing you over, his usually quiet demeanor now full of confidence and energy.]

I'll start!

[amadaman]

Oh, sure!

[Ken's just coming back from racing a couple teammates across the grass. The two other boys are groaning dramatically and flopping down in the shade of a tree, but Ken's only a little winded; even without using his dash powers he still had a lot of stamina for his size. He grins at Gran as he trots over and stops at a good passing distance from him, waving his arm.]

Go ahead, whenever you're ready.

[starlinings]

[That's all he needs. There's one last bounce of that ball on his knees as he gets it air borne, pivoting himself on his heel as his opposite foot sends the soccer all his way. It was barely a tap, but the power behind that ball almost sent it to Ken at full force. Not enough to count as an attack or knock a kid over, but there's certainly a lot of power behind that shot for so little effort.

It was calculated, and should Ken grab it, it would be sent directly into the boys reach within no time.

And the reason why Gran was seen as one of Aliea's strikers was apparent. The boy had the skill to back it up.]

[amadaman]

[The kick is fast, strong. Ken's grin widens as his excitement builds. The voices of a few other teammates going "whoa!" or "look at that!" can be heard; it's faster than how most of them would kick to each other from that distance.

But to Ken it's not a speed he can't handle. He can follow its trajectory without difficulty, and there's an easiness to the way he steps back just enough to trap the ball with his chest, tap it back into the air with his foot, and returns the kick to Gran.]

[starlinings]

[It was like Gran lit up like a Christmas tree. Green eyes brighten as he follows that trajectory himself, making the steps needed to reach it in time. His back curves, his chest arching to catch that ball and let it roll down to his feet, where it dances around inbetween his legs.

And then, without it even touching the ground, back it goes, like Ken and he were playing some weird form of 'the floor is lava' with the ball, gracefully dancing it back and forth between them.

One of the boys might try and fish out his phone to record this, watching as Ken matches every movement Gran makes, and vice versa.]

[tacticianing]

[As the tactician, Kidou holds his position, watching carefully from a short distance away. It might appear that he's simply not playing because he was invited without knowing most of them, perhaps. Or perhaps it's just awkward. Both of those are far from the case. He's doing his own kind of practice; analyzing everyone as fast as he can.

Most of them are average; not much here to immediately catch his practiced eye. Soccer was always more serious than this to him; even a pickup game or usual practice didn't have this level of horsing around. By his old standards, he wouldn't even call this a team. By Endou's... they're having fun.

Besides. Their antics helps him watch their maneuvers. One kid with a buzz cut barely seems to touch the ball at all, going through all manner of strange maneuvers to dodge it. He's excellent at avoiding contact with anything, but could he do that with a ball? Another seems absolutely determined to try to always pass to one of two people if he can. The list goes on; one by one, he carefully watches all of them... and then, there is the dog.

A dog on the field is something new. It seems to have an excellent idea of what it's doing; with no experience with dogs, Kidou can't attest for their intelligence. He is fairly sure that if a dog gets the ball, the dog will want to keep it. Not... pass it. He also watches in bemusement as the small youkai performs ... hm. He's enthusiastic.

But what's the point of practicing by NOT playing around with the others?]

[starlinings]

That's Kidou-kun for you.

[A familiar voice speaks up behind him as Gran walks up, having just gotten a ball from going out of bounds.]

Do you see anything different?


[Anything...remotely like their soccer? His voice is somewhat hopeful, as he'd been purposely holding back 90% of his power during his time here. Even his passes were intense just from a small kick.

It's hard to limit yourself when you've been conditioned to push yourself TO the limit.


But he's certainly trying.]

[tacticianing]

[Kidou doesn't look over, but the corner of his mouth tilts upwards in a brief smirk.]

One thing. A dog's soccer.

[So, no. He won't directly kill that small piece of hope in Gran's voice. Neither will he validate or keep it there; the best he can offer is what Gran can already see as odd.

Otherwise.. it's exactly the same as he'd expected so far.]

[starlinings]

A dog's soccer?

[It's a whisper, as he follows Kidou's eyes on the field to find him locked on Koromaru, who for all intents and purposes seems to be keeping the ball pretty well. Not like anyone would have the heart to really take it from him, but he has to say, the pooch was certainly handling it.

It brings a smile to his face, tone in his voice warming.]

Aliens, now dogs...

Soccer's truly amazing.

[amadaman]

[Then there's the dog. Koromaru's incredibly competent all day long, whether it's fetching towels, bottles, and popsicles for the boys or playing soccer right along with them. He seems to understand every word the humans speak to him and respond with a series of barks, and with Ken, especially, they have really good teamwork and manage to score a goal together in a small skirmish.

At one point, however, while Koromaru is taking a break one of the boys accidentally kicks the ball way too far, way too high, and way out of the way. But instead of it flying away and requiring someone to go run after it, it's Koromaru who jumps to his feet, runs a few meters, and leaps into the air -- far above most of the kids' heads -- and body tackles the ball right back to the crowd of children.]

[tacticianing]

[When this happens, Kidou's entire focus is on the dog. His eyebrows raise up sharply as the dog leaps into action, racing a few steps, then lifts into the air. His hind feet draw inwards, touching the paws together. His forepaws draw close to the body, streamlining it into a perfectly aerodynamic shape.

And unlike any dog Kidou's ever seen before, Koromaru soars.

But not only that. He soars and catches the ball, just as any player back home would do. With a single, easy motion, not even using his paws - correct play, technically - he knocks it directly back where it needs to go with what seems like expert precision. Something clicks in Kidou's mind at that, a puzzle piece he'd been missing falling unexpectedly into place.

As Koromaru lands, Kidou's already walking towards the group.

This, he needs to test.]

[amadaman]

[Back at the group, Koromaru is being hailed like a hero. He's charged right into Ken so the two of them are on the ground as the boy ruffles the dog's fur and the dog licks the boy all over his face. The rest of the boys part to let Kidou through, and Ken looks up at his approach.]

Oh, hi Kidou-kun. Did you just see that??